Identifying and supporting young carers – the interface between Care Act and the Children and Families Act

Laura Bennett Policy Manager (Young Carers and Young Adult Carers) Carers Trust @LauraBWork So, what’s “new”?

- Two pieces of legislation

  - Children and Families Act, 2014
  - Care Act, 2014

- Better, more consolidated rights for young carers, young adult carers, and their families (previously young carers’ rights sat across three pieces of legislation and six pieces of policy / practice guidance) National Young Carers Coalition campaign to change the law Children and Families Act Children and Families Act

- Part 5, Section (s.) 96 details the rights for young carers.

- These are:

  - Local Authorities (LAs) must assess whether young carers in their area have support needs and, if so, what those needs are.
  - They can carry out this assessment if
    - they think the child has needs (the young carer or their parent doesn’t have to ask),
    - the child asks them to
    - the child’s parent asks them to.

- LAs must take reasonable steps to identify young carers in their area who have support needs. The assessment

• All young carers under the age of 18 have a right to an assessment of their need (no matter who they care for, what type of care they provide, or how often they provide it)

• The assessment needs to consider: o whether it is appropriate for the young carer to provide, or continue to provide, care (for the person needing care) o the young carer’s needs for support, their other needs and wishes

• LAs must also assess what the young carer needs for their own education, training, and recreation; and work (whether the yc is in work or not)

• Assessments may be joint if everyone agrees. (Joint assessment does not equal Whole Family Approach.) Who to involve in the assessment

• The LA must ask the young carer and their parent for their views during the assessment. • The LA has to ask anyone else the young carer or their parent wants them to ask about their needs as part of the assessment (e.g. a young carer’s support worker, or the parent of a friend of a young carer). The assessment (regulations)

• The assessment must be appropriate and proportionate to the needs and circumstances of the young carer.

• The LA must consider the young carer’s: o age, understanding and family circumstances; o wishes, feelings and preferences; and what the young carer is looking for from the assessment (“outcomes”); o any differences of opinion between the young carer, the young carer’s parents and the person cared for (in relation to the care).

• Before the assessment the LA needs to give information about the assessment that mean the o young carer, o their parent, o the cared for person, or o anyone else the young carer or parent wants involved in the assessment, can take part in the assessment. The information has to be in an accessible format. The assessment (regulations)

• The assessor must: o be appropriately trained; o have enough knowledge and skills to carry out that assessment; and o be appropriate (depending on the young carer’s circumstances, in particular the young carer’s age, sex and understanding).

• The LA must consider any other assessment that’s been carried out either for the young carer or the person who is cared for (where relevant). The assessment (regulations)

The local authority must assess:

• the amount, nature and type of care the young carer provides (or intends to provide);

• the extent to which this care is (or will be) relied upon by the family, including the wider family, to maintain the well-being of the person cared for;

• whether the care which the young carer provides (or intends to provide) impacts on the young carer’s well-being *, education and development (* same meaning as Care Act);

• whether any of the tasks which the young carer is performing (or intends to perform) when providing care are excessive or inappropriate for the young carer to perform having regard to all the circumstances, and in particular the carer’s age, sex, wishes and feelings; After the assessment

• The LA has to: o give a written copy of the assessment to the young carer and their parent (and anyone else the young carer of their parent asks them to) o decide whether the young carer has support needs, if services the LA provides could meet those needs, and whether to provide services. This could involve giving help to the person that the young carer looks after, so that the young carer does not have to do so much caring. After the assessment: Regulations

• A LA must decide: If any of the young carer’s needs for support could be prevented by providing services to: o the person cared for, or o another member of the young carer’s family; • what the young carer’s needs for support would be likely to be if the young carer didn’t have to do any / all of the caring; • any actions to be taken as a result of the assessment; and • the arrangements for a future review. • A LA must also identify the young carer’s friends and family, and consider how they can help to meet the young carer’s outcomes. Transition to adult services Care Act 2014: transition assessment

- A local authority has a duty to carry out a transition assessment for a young person or carer, in order to help them plan, if they are likely to have needs once they (or the child they care for) turn 18.

- There are 3 groups of people who have a right to a transition assessment:

  - Young people, under 18, with care and support needs who are approaching transition to adulthood
  - Young carers, under 18, who are themselves preparing for adulthood
  - Adult carers of a young person who is preparing for adulthood

- Local authorities must assess the needs of an adult carer where there is likely to be a need for support after the young person in question turns 18. Transition assessment: significant benefit

- If a young person or young carer is likely to have needs when they turn 18, the local authority must assess them when it considers there is “significant benefit” to the individual in so doing.

- The timing of this assessment will depend on when it is of significant benefit to the young person or carer.

- Local authorities should consider how they can identify young people who will need an assessment but are not receiving children’s services. Transition assessment: key requirements

- The assessment process itself **must**:

  - be person-centred throughout
  - ensure that the wellbeing of each young person or carer is taken into account
  - include any other person who the young person or carer wants to involve
  - always be appropriate and proportionate to the complexity of the person’s needs

- The process **must establish**:

  - current needs and how these impact on wellbeing
  - whether the young person or carer is likely to have eligible needs
  - the outcomes the young person or carer wishes to achieve Joint legislative framework

- Together the Children and Families Act 2014 and the Care Act 2014 create a new comprehensive legislative framework for transition:

  - Focus on personalised, outcome-based approaches
  - New focus on carers across both Acts - *families* transition rather than just the young person

- Duties in both Acts are on the *local authority*:

  - a variety of operating models
  - joined up information and advice service

- The EHC plan requirement for preparation for adulthood to begin at 14 is a good default position for transition planning generally

- A flexible framework where transition can be a personalised evolution from 14-25 with no need for a "cliff-edge" transition at 18 Further information

- Care Act statutory guidance Chapter 16: sets out requirements in detail https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/care-act-2014-statutory-guidance-for-implementation

- SCIE resources on transition:

  - Resource map
  - Guides on early identification and transition for young carers, adult carers of young person http://www.scie.org.uk/care-act-2014/transition-from-childhood-to-adulthood/

- Skills for Care “train the trainer” material on transition http://www.skillsforcare.org.uk/Standards/Care-Act/Learning-and-development/Transition-into-adulthood.aspx Care Act Carers and the Care Act

• **The Care Act relates mostly to adult carers** – people over 18 who are caring for another adult. This is because young carers (aged under 18) and adults who care for disabled children can be assessed and supported under children’s law.

• The Act also makes new rules about working with young carers, or adult carers of disabled children, to plan an effective and timely **transition to adult care and support**.

• The Act gives local authorities a responsibility to **assess a carer’s needs for support, where the carer appears to have such needs**. This replaces the existing law, which says that the carer must be providing “a substantial amount of care on a regular basis” in order to qualify for an assessment.

• The local authority will assess whether the carer has needs and what those needs may be. This **assessment will consider the impact of caring on the carer**. It will also consider the **things that a carer wants to achieve in their own day-to-day life**. It must also consider other important issues, such as whether the carer is able or willing to carry on caring, whether they work or want to work, and whether they want to study or do more socially.

• If both the carer and the person they care for agree, a **combined assessment** of both their needs can be undertaken. **Integrated assessments** can also be undertaken.

• A **support plan** will set out how the carer’s needs will be met (including a personal budget). Whole Systems Approaches and Accessing Resources

Implementing Care Act 2014 and Children and Families Act 2014

Jenny Frank National Strategic Manager The Children’s Society A whole system, whole council whole-family approach

The Care Act 2014 requires local authorities to adopt a whole system, whole council, whole-family approach, coordinating services and support around the person and their family and considering the impact of the care needs of an adult on their family, including children. The Care Act and Whole Family Approaches

The Care Act and Whole-Family Approaches sets out best practice approaches to thinking “whole family” in assessment, planning and review processes – as well as the combined legal framework with children’s legislation that underpins this. The Care Act and Whole Family Approaches

The focus in this document is on four key steps required to make whole-family approaches a reality:

1. Step one: Think family.
2. Step two: Get the whole picture.
3. Step three: Make a plan that works for all.
4. Step four: Check it works for the whole family.

1) In a council that ‘thinks family’: There is leadership and commitment across the council to a whole-family approach with protocols in place across a wide range of local partnerships to enable services to be coordinated.

2) In a council that gets the whole picture: There is a joint protocol in place between children and adult services that makes responsibilities clear and how services work.

3) A plan that works for everyone: Takes into account the wellbeing of all the family and the impact of any services and support on other family members.

4) Check its working: The impact of the plan is reviewed in relation to the individual and the whole family. Check it is providing support to ensure children are not expected to offer inappropriate or excessive levels of caring. No wrong doors

A resource to help promote working together between Adult’s and Children’s social care services and enhanced partnership working with health and third sector partners. This third edition reflects the important new duties and powers placed on local authorities by the Care Act 2014 and the Children and Families Act 214. These obligations are reinforced in the Young Carers Assessments Regulations 2015, the Guidance related to both of these Acts and “Working Together to Safeguard Children” (DfE 2015). Key principles to underpin practice:

The starting point should be to assess the needs of the adult or child who needs care and support and then see what remaining needs for support a young carer in the family has.

The presence of a young carer in the family should always constitute an appearance of need and should trigger either an assessment or the offer of an assessment to the person needing care.

A whole family approach is key when assessing an adult needing care where there are children in the family providing care to the adult or undertaking wider caring responsibilities. The adult’s assessment and eligibility for support should take into account their parenting responsibilities and the functioning of the family.

No wrong doors! Supporting information

Supporting information for use in conjunction with “No wrong doors” template for local memorandum of understanding on work with young carers Working together

• **Starting point**: ensure that adults’ and children’s services work together to offer young carers and their families an effective service, able to respond to the needs of a young carer, the person cared for, and others in the family.

• Assessments of young carers and the people they care for are intrinsically linked

• This is why the legislation allows local authorities to combine assessments Assessments of young carers

• recognise that each child is a unique person on their own journey to adulthood and maturity. • recognise their individual developmental needs • offer services to promote their welfare as a child in need, including services to safeguard the child from abuse or neglect. Assessments of young carers

Take into account the strengths of a family, as well as identifying any challenges faced by its members. Identify the impact on the child of what is happening in the family.

The starting point for any assessment will always be – children are children first.

Alongside - A whole family approach Summary

3 key documents

Same principles: • Whole council responsibility • Whole family approach • Joint working • Prevent a child from taking on the responsibility for offering a level of care that is inappropriate and/or excessive and affecting their own wellbeing Thank you

http://makingastepchange.info/

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